Letter,
June 19, 1775, from Joseph
Palmer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to John
Adams, who was in Philadelphia representing Massachusetts
at the Continental Congress.

After
immigrating to America from England in 1746, Palmer operated
a glassworks and various other manufacturing works in Germantown,
now a part of Quincy, Massachusetts. He served in the Massachusetts
Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775 and became a brigadier
general in the Massachusetts militia in 1776. In his letter,
he relates the events of the Battle of Bunker Hill in detail,
including the death of their mutual friend Dr. Joseph
Warren and the American army's desperate shortage
of gunpowder.

Compare
Palmer's record to the letterAbigail Adams
wrote the day before (June 18, 1775) describing the same events
to her husband.